Apparatus for winding artificial silk thread



1931. w. H. FURNESS APPARATUS FOR WINDING ARTIFICIAL SILK THREAD Original Filed April 6, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet INVENTOR v Mwa ATTORNEYS Nov, 3, 1931. w. H. FURNESS 1,329,935

APPARATUS FOR WINDING ARTIFICIAL SILK THREAD Original Filed April e. 1927 I 2 Sheet-Sheet 2 x 1: /9 /Z M m I, b

Eh w ATTORNEY g Patented Nev.'s,-1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1 WILLIAM H. FURNESS, or NATIONAL P RK, NEW JERSEY, AssIeNo 'ro oELLocILx mm, or PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION or DELAWARE APPARATUS FOR WINDING ARTIFICIAL SILK Original application filed April 6, 1927,

This invention relates to method of and apparatus for winding artificial silk thread, and it is an improvement upon the method and apparatus shown in my United States Patent No. 1,338,648, issued April 27, 1920.

One of the primary objects of my invention is to make it possible to wind fine filament artificial silk thread, preferably while impartingtwist to it, on a spool or bobbln by a cap. Heretofore it has been impossible to do this with fine filament silk thread because of the injury done to the thread in so winding it. In the practice of my invention I do not injure the thread.

More broadly, it is an object of the invention to wind artificial silk thread, whether of fine or coarse filament, on a spool with the employment of a cap without physical injury to the thread. v I

It is another object of the invention to pro-' vide cap twister mechanism which is simple, compact and certain 1n 1ts operation, and in which the means for securlng relatlve rec1p- T rocation of the spool and cap-is very much simplified.

I obtain the foregoing, together with such other objects and advantages as may hereinafter appear, or are incident to my'invention, by means of a method and apparatus illustrated in the accompanying drawings, 'of

which- I L Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a spindle suit: able for the practice of my invention.

' Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the cap twister mechanism drawn on an enlarged scale.

Fig. 3 is a still further enlarged sectional view of certainparts of the twister mechanism.

. Fig. 4 is a section taken on the line 44 of Fig. 2 on an enlarged scale.

Fig. 5 is a section through a detail of the cap twister mechanism, the section being taken on the line 55 of Fig. 3, and

Figs. 6 and 7 are somewhat diagrammatic views illustrating what occurs as the thread is being wound.

Referring now to Fig. 1, the reference character A denotes the spindle. as a whole.

Certain parts of the spindle donot constitute 59 any part of the present invention, but are .the extrusion pump,

Seriai No. 181,614. Divided and this application filed December 12, 1927. Serial No. 239,408.

shown, described and claimedin my copendilig 1application, Serial No. 239,401, filed Dec.

It will suflice for the purposes of this specification to point out that the solution (preferably a copper-hydrate-ammonia-cellulose solution) is discharged into the bath 7 through the medium of a spinneret and suitable extrusion pump. The filaments converge to form the thread 8, such thread being drawn over the drawing mechanism a from which it is led to the cap twister mechanism b which forms a part of the present invention. Suitable the thread where needed.

A driving unit 0 is provided for operating the drawing mechanism and the cap twister mechanism, such driving mechanism constituting no part of the present lnvention, the same being shown, described and claimed in my copending ap lication Serial No. 239,402, filed Dec. 12, 192

. The cap twister mechanism 6 comprises the cap 10 which is detachably carried on the top of the spindle 11; thespool 12 which is detachably supported on the spindle 13 which is hollow andhouses the spindle 11; and the pulleys 14 and 15 which, respectively, drive the spindles l1 and 13.

The pulleys 14 and 15 are driven from the driving unit a by'means of a belt not shown, the diameter of the pulley 14 being larger than that of the pulley 15, in consequence whereof the spool 12 rotates more rapidly than does the cap 10 for reasons which will appear hereinafter.

I avail myself of the difl'erence in speed of rotation of the two spindles to provide a very simple arrangement for imparting reciprocatory movement to the spool. The spindle 11 is provided with crosslng threads 16 for a portion of its length and mounted thereon is a sleeve member 17 which is provided with a shoe 18 which engages the thread; The sleeve 17 is trunnioned in the block 19 by means of the two pins 19a. The opening in the sleeve is such that the sleeve can tilt or rock on the axis of rotation of the pins 19a. The pins 1911 project through slots 20 formed in the spindle 13. Consequently,

guides ,9 are provided for owing to this arrangement and the difference in speed of the two spindles, the shoe 18 and, therefore, the sleeve will be moved longitudinally of the spindle 11, and will tilt when the shoe reaches either end of one of the threads of the spindle 11, and thus the shoe will enter the other crossing thread. For example, when the shoe' 18 reaches the top of the threaded portion, it will tilt and then move downwardly to the end of the threaded portion when it will again tilt and then move upwardly. Since the spool 12 rests upon the block 19, it moves u wardly and downwardly with the sleeve 1;.

In order to make the reversing shoe positive and certain in its operation, I so shape the opening in the sleeve 17 that it can tilt only on the axis of the pins 19a. To this end there is only a slight clearance between the sleeve 17 and the threaded portion of the stem at the points marked 21 in Fig. 4c. The clearance shown in the drawings is somewhat exaggerated. Fig. 5 is a cross section of the sleeve taken in a plane at right angles to the plane in which the pins 19a extend, and

\ illustrates the clearance which permits the rocking of the sleeve on the axis of the pins It will be seen that the foregoing arrange ment is simple and compact and certain in operation.

Referring, now, to the manner in which the thread is twisted and laid upon the spool by the mechanism described, it will be observed that the thread is laid on the spool with the employment of a loop or balloon 22 and is twisted.

The rate of feed of the thread and the rate of rotation of the spool determine the rate of rotation of the loop. As the diameter of the spool increases as the thread is wound, the rate of rotation of the loop increases somewhat, with the net result that the thread is wound at an approximately constant rate. When the spool is started, the thread moves across the lip of the cap at a steep angle as shown in Fig. 6. If, now, the cap be caused to rotate at the speed at which the loop rotates when the spool is started, the only relative movement as between the cap and the thread will be the inward movement of the thread with the rubbing in the direction of the fibres of the thread, that is to say the cap will not rub across the thread. This latter rubbing damages the thread.

I prefer to operate the cap at a constant speed the same as'that of the loop when a new spool is started, the spool also being operated at constant speed.

As the speed'of the loop increases with increase in diameter of the spool, there is some movement of the cap across the thread, but the angle' of movement of the thread changes, becoming flatter and flatter, as showniin Fig. 7, and hence the rubbing of the thread, and that fine filament thread can be twisted without damage or breakage.

By operating at constant speeds the app'aratus is much simplified.

The drawing mechanism is designed to impart stretch to the formed thread to the extent that the loop would stretch the thread when the loop has its greatest centrifugal force. Hence, no appreciable stretching occurs in winding. However, the thread is laid up under lighttension which prevents tangling.

This is a division of my copending application, Serial No. 181,614,*filed April 6, 1927. I

I claim I 1. In cap twister mechanism, a cap, a cap spindle having crossing threads, a spool, a hollow spool spindle surrounding the cap spindle, a reversing nut on the cap spindle adapted to transmit reciprocatory movement to the spool, said nut being non-rotatively associated with the spool spindle, and means for operating the spindles at diiferent speeds.

2. In cap twister mechanism, a cap, a cap spindle having crossing threads, a spool, a hollow spool spindle surrounding the cap spindle, a reversing nut on the cap spindle adapted to transmit reciprocatory movement to the spool, said nut being non-rotatively associated with the spool spindle, and means for operating the spindles at different speeds, the nut comprising a tilting sleeve with a thread engaging portion,- with the opening in the sleeve of such configuration that it can tilt only on the axis which permits reversal.

3. In cap twister mechanism, a cap, a cap spindle having crossing threads, a spool, a hollow spool spindle surrounding the cap spindle, a block adapted to support the spool,

a reversing nut on the cap spindle trunnioned in the block and non-rotativelyassociated with the spool spindle, and means for oper- 

